Sanur Beach Pollution Drive Continues

Sindhu Breach and Mercure Resort Sanur Found to be Operating Substandard Waste Management Systems by Local Anti-Pollution Team.

(7/10/2007) The Coordinating Team for the Control of Pollution (TKP2LH) continues to conduct spot checks on Sanur Hotels suspected of contributing to the pollution of nearby oceans by failing to install and properly operate mandated Waste Management Systems (IPAL).

After issuing warnings to 3 hotels in early June [See: Environmental Warnings Issued to 3 Sanur Hotels], the TKP2LH visited the Mercure Resort Sanur and the Hotel Inna Sindhu Beach on Tuesday, July 2, 2007 concluding the waste management systems in place at the two properties was "not representative" and operating below required standards.

According to a report in the Indonesian-language Bali Post, the team led by Yeni Trihandani found that both hotels are still using antiquated absorption systems for the disposal of waste. In the case of the Hotel Inna Sindhu Beach the team found that toilets and kitchen wastes were disposed of in a standard septic tank, typical of an installation at a local home.

A member of the TKP2LH team, I Made Mangku, told the Bali Post that the status of the two waste management systems represent a threat to Sanur's local environment. According to Mangku, tests carried out on the waster water at the Hotel Inna Sindhu Beach were especially concerning, exceeding levels of permissible particulate matter by a factor of 360%. High levels of fats and other organic matter were also detected in the Hotel's waste water effluent.

The General Manager of the Hotel Inna Sindhu Beach, I Made Budiastra, freely admitted to the Bali Post that the hotel does not posses the required waste management systems due, in part, to the building of the hotel's infrastructure pre-dates modern pollution control requirements.

The Chief Engineer of the Mercure Resort Sanur admitted to the press that his hotel uses a biofield system using several absorption tanks that, in the event of overflow, are pumped out.